Black and White

ONE.

Alex is seven when he finally asks the question to Lauren. She's in the living room waiting for Camila and Iris to come home and for Normani to swing by when her son comes down from his room and snuggles close to Lauren.

"Mami?"

"Yes, baby?"

"How'd you meet Mommy?" Lauren's eyes light up almost immediately and she fights tooth and nail to keep her expression calm. Because, damn it, she does not have a script written in her head. Instead she pulls her son closer to her until his head is resting on her chest. The dark-haired boy automatically closes his eyes as soon as he's settled.

"I was having a really bad day when I met her."

Lauren lost three patients in fifteen hours on the day they met. Two strangers and one who mattered to her more than it should. She shouldn't have been a stranger to death because it's part of her job. But on that day, it didn't seem to matter because the one patient that she was able to save didn't deserve to live. It reminded her of the irony of life: bad things happen to good people.

/

She was sitting on the sidewalk in front of her house when Camila found her.

Actually she stumbled on her. Literally.

She knew she was making the already small sidewalk smaller when she sat down. The house just seemed to be too big right now and Lauren knew she was going to end up in a heap of tears the moment she enters it. So she settled for the sidewalk. She had been sitting there for more than an hour when suddenly, someone kicked her ribs.

"Fucking shit." She hissed. Her hands flew to her side, cradling the pain.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The person was beside her after three seconds of shock. Something clattered behind Lauren but she can't seem to notice anything besides the pain in her ribs. Unfamiliar but soft hands covered her own as if hoping the pain would magically go away. Another hand fumbled to her back uncertainly.

"What the hell. Watch where you're going, goddamn it!" She said. As soon as the words left her mouth, the warm and fumbling hands stilled. Lauren cracked her eyes open and squinted. She saw pink lips first and she thought that this woman is ridiculously close. And then she saw freckles and brown hair. And then...

Oh shit.

Pink lips formed a small, sad smile that looked too much like the smile one of the patients gave her before he died.

"I would love to. But..." The woman's gentle voice faded as she pulled away her hands. Lauren wanted to punch herself in the face over and over again. "I'm, uhm, blind."

She should have stopped her when she groped around for her cane. She should have stopped her when the most beautiful person she had ever met began to walk away from her. At the very least, she should have apologized for being a total jackass.

They met on one of the worst days of Lauren's life. It was supposed to be nothing special. But it had also been the day Lauren felt her cold heart beat fire through her veins.

/

"That was mean." Brown eyes glared at her. Lauren laughs kissing the boy on his forehead. Al has always been protective of the both them ever since some kid at school mocked him because he had two mommies. The kid went home with a bloody nose and Lauren gave a piece of her mind to the principal when she learned that the kid didn't get any punishment. Camila had been proud of the both of them for standing up for their family and after she gave them a lecture about it (which totally turned Lauren on), she took them both out for ice cream.